Scandinavian Santa Gnome Amigurumi

It’s almost October and time to start your holiday crocheting! I’m terribly proud of myself for having prepared for Christmas this far in advance with my Scandinavian Santa Gnome. Now to get crackin’ on other projects!

This Santa Gnome is part of my ongoing collaboration with Lion Brand Yarn, and is part of their 12 Weeks of Christmas extravaganza, where several of my favorite designers share crochet and knit projects that you can make in the weeks leading up to the holidays. Be sure to head over to lionbrand.com to see all 12 projects!

I guess making a santa gnome has always been somewhere on my list, and I especially liked the idea that I wouldn’t have to deal with amigurumi eyes. I know they totally make or break a facial expression, and I always end up spending so much time on time; I was looking forward to skipping that part and just sticking a nose on a face. Without a full facial expression, there’s always so much to interpret from these Scandinavian inspired gnomes. Are they sad, or mischievous, or somewhat languid and just enjoying a quiet life? I love their mystery and playfulness!

This Santa Gnome is made from my favorite Vanna’s Choice yarn, my go-to worsted weight acrylic workhorse. It’s just easy to work with, and easy to find, and there’s always a stash of it in my workroom. Besides the yarn and the polyfill, I tried a new technique this time around -> there’s a pouch of rice in his bum to give him a bit of extra weight! The pouch is the foot end of a pair of old nylon stockings, filled with dry, uncooked rice. After lightly stuffing the body piece, I added the rice pouch and then filled the rest of the body with the polyfill fiber. The body then feels soft still, but has that extra bit of oomph that makes him sit still!

All the body pieces are created separately, filled separately, and then sewn together. I had the most problems with the legs and feet, and ended up sewing the legs pretty close to front of the body piece so that he could sit properly. The arms were pretty easy, since they just needed to be on either side of the body. I sewed the nose on sideways, as in the opening and closing rounds were on the top and bottom, and NOT actually facing out. I also attached the nose at several points to give it a bit of a squashed look.

The hat was probably the least intuitive of all the pieces to put together. Of course, it’s a hat, so it goes on top of the “head”, but there’s no head, just the body, so it really just sits “on top”. In order to get that too-big look, I sewed the hat directly onto the arm, around the back and on the other arm, using a whip stitch. Before I closed it off over the nose, I added a bit of stuffing inside the hat to give the illusion that there’s a head there. Then I continued using the whip stitch to attach the hat just pulled over the nose.

The beard is made by tying yarn to each stitch in the body, all around the nose to fill it out. When my kids saw the face, they immediately asked where the face was! My daughter said “Mommy, where’s the face?” and then she answered her own question by lifting the beard and yelling “HERE! <insert manic laughter>”. You can leave the yarn as is, or unravel each piece to make a fuller beard, or even brush it out using a dog slicker brush* to get a totally different look!

The free pattern for Scandinavian Santa Gnome is available below. You can also purchase an inexpensive PDF from my pattern shops if you’d like to print the pattern for offline use. Another option is to purchase the entire kit – yarn + pattern – directly from Lion Brand. Choose your favorite flavor below!

Abbreviations

sc2tog – single crochet decrease: Insert hook into front loop of next st. Without yarning over, insert hook into front loop of next st. Yarn over. Pull through 2 loops on hook. Yarn over, pull through remaining loop on hook.

hdc2tog – half double crochet decrease: Yarn over. Insert hook into front loop of next st. Without yarning over, insert hook into front loop of next st. Yarn over. Pull through 2 loops on hook. Yarn over, pull through remaining loops on hook.

Single post st – Work around the post of the stitch, instead of through the loops.

→ Cut yarn, leaving a long tail. Pull yarn through last stitch. Sew yarn end into the front loop of each of the 6 st around. Pull tight to close the circle. Fasten off.

ASSEMBLY:

→ LEGS to BODY: The inner edge of each leg is attached approximately 6 rounds in front of the center point. The outside edge of each leg is attached between body Rounds 11 and 12, right where the red meets the white.

→ ARMS to BODY: Arms are attached on either side of the body, centered to the legs, at body Round 26.

→ NOSE to BODY: Nose is centered between the arms, with the side of the nose facing outwards. It is approximately attached at body Round 27, and pulled slightly downwards to attach at body Round 24.

→ HAT to BODY: Attach the hat at body Round 24 by the front of the gnome’s right arm. Sew right into the arm and around using a whip stitch. Hat is pulled down lower in the back, across the left arm and attached at body Round 24 by the front of the left arm. Lightly stuff hat to fill out the shape. Continue sewing up and around the nose and finish at the starting point. Fasten off, weave in the ends.

→ BEARD: Cut 2 pieces of WHITE yarn, approximately 12” in length. Holding them together, tie to each stitch around the nose using a lark’s knot. Continue tying yarn to the body in concentric circles outward from the nose. You can leave as it, or separate the strands in the yarn to create a fuller beard. Trim to desired shape.

I love that this gnome is a bit fat and stodgy, has dangling legs, and is easy to squeeze. You can use him as a replacement for Elf on the Shelf – this scandinavian santa elf has real legs and real feet!

Check out my pattern shops on Craftsy and Etsy where you can purchase printable PDFs of my latest crochet patterns. These PDFs are formatted without comments or ads, and have instructional photos at the bottom for optional printing.

I sometimes include affiliate links in my supply lists.Purchasing from these merchants earns me a small commission with no extra cost to you, and goes towards supporting One Dog Woof.

Please be respectful and do not sell or distribute this pattern in any way, especially as your own. Instead, share the original blog post link! You can sell finished products made from this pattern by giving credit to One Dog Woof as the pattern designer and linking to the blog post. If you have any questions regarding distribution or translation of this pattern, please see my Terms of Use. Thank you for your consideration!

I just found this lovely little guy, and iam excited to make him, i dont understand what is meant by seamed stitch instead of in the round, could someone please explain
Thank you again for the sweet pattern

Instead of the usual going round in a continuous spiral, at the end of each round you make a chainof one, the continue. Your work will end up with a seam. I hope this helps ( and I hope it’s correct as I haven’t been crocheting for long)
64 yr old Male from Belfast.
Joe.

I’m really confused about the beard. Could you please elaborate a bit? It says to cut 2 strands of white, 12 inches long.. I’m assuming I need to cut many strands, and use 2 at a time to attach via the lark’s knot? And after attaching around the nose, are the knots then attached to the stitches of the body? Sorry if I’m being dense, I’m just not sure I get it! Thanks in advance!

Hello, I loved this one so much that, after making a full size one, I made one in thread as a Christmas ornament. I am now working on the second full size gnome and will make a few more in thread to give to my children as their annual Christmas ornaments. Thank you

I just saw this, but will definitely make this for next year. My granny was Swedish and my grandpa was Norwegian, and they would have loved this too! My grandfather knitted us some beautiful Norwegian style stockings that we kept for many years. Thanks for the free pattern.

Trackbacks

[…] Scandinavian Santa Gnome by One Dog Woof: ChiWei designs such incredible amigurumi with amazing shaping, and I LOVE her Scandinavian Santa Gnome design! It’s so neat how he has no face (no need to spend time on attaching eyes and stitching on the mouth) so his expression and mood are open to interpretation! ChiWei details how to attach all the parts to get this adorable look, and she even added a pouch of rice in his bum to give him some extra weight! This guy would be such a special decoration around the house and would make a fun and festive gift, especially for someone hosting a Christmas party! Amigurumi are very unique gifts since they are one-of-a-kind, and so much love goes into crafting each piece- they really come to life when all the pieces are attached together! The kit can be found HERE and the free pattern HERE! […]

[…] 4) Scandinavian Santa Gnome by One Dog Woof “I guess making a santa gnome has always been somewhere on my list, and I especially liked the idea that I wouldn’t have to deal with amigurumi eyes.” […]